A teen umpire marked a kid safe during a recent youth baseball game.
Aidan Wiles is a high school junior in Jacksonville, Florida, who works behind the plate umpiring youth baseball games.
But instead of calling balls and strikes, Aidan jumped into the action himself, saving the life of a 7-year-old when a dust devil started swirling behind home plate.
Meteorologists estimate that the winds in the middle of the funnel could have been between 30 and 40 mph, Action News Jax reported.
Dust devils are “dust-filled vortices, created by strong surface heating, are generally smaller and less intense than a tornado,” according to the National Weather Service. They last only a few minutes before fizzling out.
The video of Aiden’s scoop is now going viral.
It's the viral video that has two local athletes in the national spotlight🌪
— Alivia Tassely (@AliviaASJax) May 16, 2023
Today I got to catch up with both of them about what was going through their minds while inside the Dust Devil on the Diamond & how a scary few seconds started a long-lasting friendship.@ActionSportsJax pic.twitter.com/N5WqM4OzmF
You can see the dust from the basepath and batter’s box swirling, enveloping catcher Bauer Zoya, 7, in the spinning dirt. Aidan then is seen picking Bauer up, and getting him to safety.
“I just saw him freaked out, just like couldn’t find his way out and I knew his little body couldn’t handle it, so I just rushed in and got him,” Wiles said, according to Action News Jax.
Bauer is thankful that the umpire was there.
“At first, I was scared, but I just told myself to think of happy thoughts. Then I thought the twister got me, but it was Aidan, and I could breathe again,” Bauer said.
